Costa Rica - Day Four

Tortuguero National Park (Parque Nacional Tortuguero) is most famous for the green sea turtles that nest in Tortuguero, though leatherbacks, hawksbill, and loggerhead turtles all also nest in Tortuguero. From February through November (particularly July through August), the green turtles come out of the sea to laboriously pull themselves on shore and lay eggs on the beaches of Tortuguero, and sixty days later, the hatchlings race back to the sea. Given that we visited in late December, it's probably no surprise that we were unable to see either the egg-laying or the hatchlings. There was a very small possibility, given that eggs could be laid as late as October/November, with the sixty day incubation until hatching, that if we got up at 5:15AM or so, we could have gone to the beach to see if any stragglers were still around, but the hotel employees said that no hatchlings had been seen for a while. Although it would have been very cool to see *if* there were any hatchlings, we decided to get more sleep instead. Similarly, Sergio had offered the possibility of going on a bird-watching hike with him around the hotel property around 6am, since he said we should be able to see something like 20 or 40 (I forget which) different species of birds just on the grounds of the hotel. Nice opportunity, but again, sleep won. As it turned out, my dad, forgetting that his watch was still on eastern time (Costa Rica is in central time), got my mom and sister up an hour early by mistake, so my dad and mom ended up going on the bird watching walk anyway. They said they did see a number of rare species of birds and that, mosquitoes aside (and there were plenty in Tortuguero), it was a good little expedition. My sister opted to nap in the rocking chairs overlooking the lagoon, waiting for breakfast to be served.

My bf, who is a very picky eater, tended to eat very little at these breakfasts since he dislikes beans (no gallo pinto for him), eggs, pancakes (he prefers waffles), and most other typical breakfast foods. I, on the other hand, happily accepted some pancakes that were griddled right in front of me, as well as scoops of gallo pinto, scrambled eggs, little sausages, and fried potato patties. Did I mention I ate too much in this tour? The maple syrup served at every breakfast that featured pancakes or French toast on tour was extra yummy for some reason - sweeter or something. We also happily accepted glasses of yet another yummy juice, and had our breakfasts while looking out at the Lagunas del Tortuguero.

It was then time for a real boat tour around the canals of Tortuguero. This time we were split into three smaller boats - open pontoons, each with a naturalist guide (ours was Ray, who had also been with us on our boat the previous day). My bf is really good at figuring out how to be the first to get seats, so he got us seats right at the front of the boat for an unobstructed view of anything that would be coming up. This ended up being useful particularly when the boat was steered right up to the bank in order to see animals hidden in thickets. Given that this was a tour expressly for the purpose of looking for wildlife, I brought my 70-200mm lens in the hopes of getting some good photos. Our boats all had to check in with the ranger station at the entrance to the actual park area, and then we were on our way. This was probably one of the highlights of the trip for me - I find spotting wildlife really exciting and I loved the boat ride a great deal.

One of the first animals we spotted was almost directly across the lagoon from our hotel - a huge, two meter long iguana (apparently this is the typical size) resting on a branch high above the water. My dad said he had seen another one that morning on the bird-watching tour. As we watched it, it raised its head and let out a mating call, several times. The iguana was quite spectacular looking. As we cruised along, Ray pointed out a whole bunch of birds, most of which I will not even attempt to remember or identify. We spotted a number of kingfishers, but heard even more of them. One of the more unusual ones we saw was the Anhinga, a black and white patterned bird that chose to show off its wings for us. One of the most common ones we saw was the little blue egret, a blue-ish grey bird that seemed to like to perch in picturesque settings - at the end of a lone, interestingly shaped fallen branch, or on a pretty rock, or something like that. I had to convince myself to stop taking a photo whenever I saw one, just because the setting was different.

As we cruised along, our pilot decided to navigate us down a side channel - I don't know if it's because he saw something or they just thought there was a chance we'd find something there. Close to the entrance of that channel, some people noticed suddenly that there were a couple howler monkeys in the trees above us. These were hard to spot, since they were fairly immobile and basically black blobs on the tree branches above, but once I did spot them they were neat to see. Quite large, too! The howler monkeys were the biggest of the three species of monkeys we ended up spotting this trip. After they gave us some time to stare at the monkeys (and in my case, try to snap some photos), the boat moved on until one of the tour members spotted something swimming in the water nearby. We all thought "crocodile!" but it turned out to be a caiman, related to crocodiles, but much smaller. All in all, the head (the only part we could really see) was probably less than a foot long. As we watched, the caiman glided along, and then submerged, IIRC rolling a membrane up over its eyes as it sunk, in a motion similar to a submarine submerging. We thought we had lost it, and the pilot continued cruising us along the side passage a little longer, when suddenly he started turning us, backing up and moving forward, and then pushing us nose first towards the bank, which was slightly alarming to me watching the branches of bankside plants coming at us. It turned out, though, that he had spotted where the caiman resurfaced and now rested unmoving among the plants overhanging the water. Our boat ended up stopped within a couple feet of the caiman, so I got a really close-up, clear view and some really great photos, to my immense excitement. As we floated there, another of the boats came down the passage, probably wondering what we were looking at, so we backed out and let them take our place.

Looking at my photos now, I don't recall if we stopped by the same group of monkeys, from the other side of the stand of trees, or found a different group of monkeys nearby, but we stopped to watch a number of howler monkeys foraging in the trees. One came out on a branch overhanging the water so we got a really good view of that one reaching for and munching on leaves. Another monkey much higher in the tree was doing some leaping between branches and hanging by its tail to get at food, while others sat in high branches. As we moved on, we reached an interesting kind of marshy area where plants grew densely on the water, and here we saw several northern jacana birds walking along on top of the plants and occasionally dipping down to try to grab something from the water. Cruising along, the pilot once again steered us straight towards another bank, to come to a rest against the thick reeds growing in the water. It took me a while to figure out where everyone was looking but once I saw it, it was hard to believe I'd missed the 2m long iguana sitting on some big palm fronds on the bank. Those iguanas are neat - so huge! Throughout our whole boat ride, I'd marveled at our guide and pilot's abilities to spot these animals as we sped along, but the one I really don't understand came at the end of the trip. We were going along slowly down one side channel when suddenly the pilot turned us and steered us into a sort of sheltered nook off the main channel, trees and leaves all around. When I finally spotted what made him head over there, I was boggled - a fairly small green lizard - I believe a basilisk lizard - on the side towards the base of a tree that blended in really well with the leaves surrounding it. How in the world he saw it, I still don't know. It was very neat looking, but very well hidden. Apparently the guides and pilots all grew up in the Tortuguero area so they all grew up seeing these animals and learning to spot and identify them, but wow. If humans are so good at spotting these fairly well camouflaged animals, shouldn't predators learn how to as well? At any rate, we were told these lizards were known as the "Jesus Christ Lizards" because they could walk on water.

That was the end of our first boat tour, which took probably approximately an hour and a half. Upon our return, we were greeted with snacks - a glass of watermelon-tasting fruit punch and a fairly yummy cookie each. Although our boat ride had been under sun and fairly clear skies, my bf had noticed some ominous clouds as we rounded the bend towards our lodge and sure enough, almost the instant we came ashore under the roof at the dock, the skies opened up and it started pouring. Luckily, the hotel had umbrellas everywhere (this must be a common occurrence) - stands by the docks, the restaurant, the bar, brackets for umbrellas on the lodge porches - so we grabbed one and ran back to our room since we had a bit of a break before our next excursion.

While we were in Tortuguero, our luck, weather-wise, really worked in our favor. By the time it was time for the next trip, the rain had stopped. We therefore were able to load into the boats with no issue for the short trip down to the Green Turtle Research Station (all travel was done by boats in Tortuguero). Ordinarily, during nesting season, I think this included walking along the beaches to look at nesting sites, but for us, we just got a video. This was a bit of a disappointment - I was hoping the research station was something more elaborate where we could really see and learn a lot about the turtles, and while the video was quite informative (and where I really got a good sense at how quickly those hatchlings speed towards the water), making me wish we had come during the nesting season, the station itself really was just one room with photos of animals and short descriptions around it, with a tiny little gift shop. The highlight of that particular stop for many was probably the guy outside chopping open coconuts with a machete and selling them to people with a straw stuck in for like $1 USD each. When you were done drinking the coconut juice, you could go back to him to break your coconut up so you could eat the meat inside. I've never liked coconut juice *or* coconut meat nearly as much as the coconut cream which I guess is a processed product - neither are as sweet as I like - but it was interesting trying a bit of my mom's coconut.

After the video, we all set off to walk down the beach to Tortuguero village (probably about a 10 minute walk?). This was pretty, but increasingly very hot and humid, with the sun beating down on us. When we arrived at the village, we stopped at a large gift shop and were given probably about an hour to explore the village on our own. The gift shop had the most expensive souvenirs, but we didn't realize it at first. If you continued into the village, there were a number of smaller shops, all with better prices. The village itself was quite cute - no vehicles, no big buildings, just a small pedestrian street with little shops and restaurants, as well as a nice little church, lining each side. For some reason, there were also artfully arranged heaps of rusty metal machines in various locations of the village too, which were neat looking but kind of random. The village itself also wasn't very big - or at least not very wide, located on a strip of land between the Caribbean and the river. My bf was getting quite hungry by then, and was craving some meat, so we kept looking at the restaurants and food stands we passed, but it wasn't until Sergio, passing by, told us that the pastries at one little bakestand were really good, that we decided to get anything. There were a number of different cakes - banana, chocolate, carrot, lemon, etc - but what really caught our eye were the apple pies - these pockets of pastry that looked quite a lot like apple turnovers. They already looked good, but the fact that they hadn't been there the first time we walked past, and then a tray full of them appeared by the time we went back suggested that they were fresh-baked. We bought one pie, and started heading back to the meeting point. The pie turned out to be extremely delicious - the crust was a little on the thick side, but had sugar crystals making it sweet and crunchy, and the apple filling - aside from being so hot it burned my mouth every time I took a bite - was sweet and incredibly good. After polishing the pie off, my bf really wanted to get more but we didn't think we had enough time. Finally, he gave in and went to ask Sergio who was like "sure, get some!" so we took off running and he bought two more, which we shared with my family at lunch. In the meantime, I finally indulged my wood love and turtle love, and bought a little turtle wood necklace for $3 in one shop..only to see one I liked much more for $4 at a roadside stand, so I finally went and got that one too. All in all, it was a nice little trip to Tortuguero village, highlighted by those delicious apple pies.

We were loaded back on the boats for the trip back to Laguna Lodge, and then it was lunchtime. I don't remember much about the food except yummy juice, and I think it was at this meal they served us a dessert that was fried cassava with honey on top, which was really delicious and everyone liked. We coupled this together with our apple pies, and finished the meal very happy. We had about an hour and a half break here until our next trip, which was billed as "time to enjoy your lodge's swimming pool" but I was exhausted, so we took a nap instead.

In the afternoon, we got another boat cruise - somewhat shorter - into another region of the park. I really loved these boat cruises, like I said. Breeze in my face, skimming along the water... This time my sister and I were standing right by the boats when they said it was time to load, so we once again claimed the first couple rows for us. It took a little bit longer to see our first animal on this trip, but when we did, it was quite exciting for me since we got to see another species of monkey, the spider monkey. The spider monkeys are smaller than the howlers, a reddish brown color instead of black, and a lot more agile. My guide later said that the spider monkeys like to put on a show - they see you and suddenly they're all swinging between the branches, hanging, and doing tricks. The ones we saw didn't do that so much - they seemed more intent on eating - but it was cute because one was either eating or just holding onto a big flower blossom, and kept playing with it and holding onto it, even as he swung from one position to another.

We were looking at another howler monkey when our guide suddenly cried out for us to get our cameras and binoculars ready and look up. He had heard the sound of macaws crying, and we looked up just in time to see a pair fly overhead, calling noisily as they went. Apparently it's rare to actually spot macaws - at the most you'll hear them or see them flying by - so even though they were mostly dark shapes against the sky, it was still neat in concept. As we boated along, we saw another boat stopped nose first in some reeds, with half the people standing and pointing cameras at something in front of them. Beside them was a mound of dirt with two river turtles on it, but they didn't seem interested in those. When they finally pulled out and we pulled in, our guide instantly spotted what they had been looking at, but it took us a little longer to locate what looked like two bumps in the mud at first - baby caimans, camouflaged quite well into the mud and plants, each only a few inches long but with all the same bumps, ridges, markings, and features of the adult caiman we had seen earlier in the day. They were actually quite cute.

As we pulled away from the baby caimans, we once again heard the howler monkeys. Ray explained that they were territorial calls, and then mimicked the call for us. When asked if the female monkeys also produced territorial calls, he said their calls sounded quite different, and then mimicked *those* for us as well. The howler monkey call doesn't really sound like a howl to me - more like deep-throated grunts and roars - but it is very loud and carries very far. As we floated along, we saw more and more river turtles - most sunning themselves on various tree or plant outcroppings in the middle of the water, and some swimming. We also saw another caiman swim by, and more little blue egrets. Ray directed our attention to a really big brown mass in one of the trees, and told us it was a termite nest (quite perturbing - it was really large). IDing birds is not my forte - suffice it to say we saw more Costa Rican birds as we went.

Then, as we were about to start the journey home, we got lucky and saw the third species of monkey that Tortuguero had to offer - a pair of white-faced monkeys (ie capuchins) up in a tree. These monkeys alternated between scratching each other's backs, and gazing intently and alertly off into the distance. After watching them for a while, the pilot started motoring the boat away when one of the tour group members said she saw one closer, just staring at her. The guide quickly told the pilot to turn back, and sure enough, we found a lone white-faced monkey sitting on a branch lower down and closer to the water, staring out at the water and eyeing us. After a while, that monkey decided to move along to check something new out, and we moved along as well, heading back to our lodge.

After our second boat tour, we still had a couple hours before dinner, so my bf and I changed into bathing suits to check out the "jungle swimming pool" at our hotel. We spent a fun couple hours splashing around, though for a while my bf got hijacked by a kid who seemed to live in the pool (my sister saw him there before our boat ride), who wanted to play. The kid didn't speak English (much - he knew some numbers and "GOAL!") and we didn't speak Spanish, so the rules of the game weren't clear at first - first it was just some toss with the three soccer balls he had, but then he decided to concentrate on playing with my bf, and seemed to want my bf to throw balls at him. My bf didn't quite understand - at first it seemed like he wanted to take hard hits from the balls, but eventually it became clear that the kid was acting as a goalie, and the objective was to try to get the balls *past* him. They went back and forth for a while, until finally my bf tried to break free of the game. It took a while for the kid to stop following him around and trying to reinitiate the play, but then we were able to lounge around in the water for a while, before going to rinse off and get dressed for dinner.

I don't recall much about dinner - the highlight in Laguna was the juice, not the food (food wasn't bad, just not a highlight) - though it was nice because Laguna had a cook making food on the spot for the main entree, instead of just bins of pre-made food. On the other hand, that did mean longer lines for the food. We had an earlier start for the next day, so I *think* we didn't do the card games that night. Instead, my bf and I wandered around the property, at one point going to lay down in the hammocks by the dock, swinging back and forth.

Actually, now that I think about it, we didn't play games because that night was New Year's Eve. They had scheduled some activities - around 10pm, there was to be a party at the snack bar by the pool with music and festivities. Around 6pm, there was supposed to be a calypso band playing in the bar, but we didn't go listen to that since we were in the pool at the time. My bf and I therefore killed time until 10 to check out the party (my parents and sister went to bed). When we went over, it turned out there was a DJ instead of a live band, and people were mostly sitting at tables, drinking and chatting. It was pretty much what we expected and not really worth it to us to lose sleep over, so after checking it out, we went back to our room to go to sleep. I ended up being kept up anyway, though, by the loud music (our room wasn't far from the bar), people laughing and yelling, fireworks on the beach around 11 (I was in the bathroom and figured by the time I got out there, they'd be over), and then the countdown at midnight. So technically, I was awake for the countdown to New Years, but I was in bed while my bf slept, so it wasn't exactly a big celebration. That's the earliest I've ever gone to bed for New Years but we *did* have a 7:30AM departure the next day.

I do have to say though - that was one of the best days on tour for me (did I mention I love boat rides?) and I found it in many ways a more enjoyable way to spend New Year's Eve, even if we didn't stay up until midnight, than many other New Year's Eves. But I've never really been into the party thing anyway.

Bye bye 2007!